Belgium Travel Notes A visitor's guide
Dunes and marram grass beside a wide North Sea beach under a pale sky, with a distant promenade and two small figures on the sand.

An independent notebook

Belgium Travel Notes

Short English-language notes for people planning a holiday in Belgium — including visitors from China — covering Brussels, Antwerp, the North Sea coast and the practicalities of arriving at Brussels Airport.

  1. Brussels The bilingual capital, its squares, a short history and when to go.
  2. Antwerp The Grote Markt, the river and a day among gables and cafés.
  3. Ostend A long beach, the promenade, and how to reach the coast today.
  4. Airport Touching down at Brussels Airport and continuing into the city by train.

Belgium is compact, bilingual in its capital, and easy to travel by train. The notes on this site grew out of a small visitor's guide first written in 2016. They have been refreshed so that the routes, museum names and travel facts match the country as it is now, not as it was a decade ago.

This is a private travel guide. It does not issue visas, represent a government, or speak for a diplomatic mission. If you need consular help, go to the official channels, not these pages.

Start with an introduction to Brussels, step sideways to Antwerp, or head for Ostend and the sea.